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Were you an Archie’s Comics fan back in the day like I was? If so, and you love makeup, check this out:

MAC Archie’s Girls for Spring 2013: Does this bring back memories or what?!?

The collection is broken up into two parts. There is Betty (Cooper), consisting of lighter shades and Veronica (Lodge) made up of the traditional in-your-face dramatic colors. The collection is huge and as such will be this post but trust me, it’s worth it. If you don’t want to read my blather but see some live-and-in-color pics, check out this post on Specktra.com.

Nothing like a love triangle to remind you of Valentine’s Day like Veronica, Betty and Archie…

Lipglasses. A Brown Girl MAC Addict’s Holy Grail 😉

Betty Collection: MAC Archie’s Girls

Lipsticks

Girl Next Door Vivid blue pink (Lustre)

Betty Bright Light vibrant peach (Satin)

Oh, Oh, Oh Sheer brown plum (Lustre) (Repromote)

BIGA Intel says: Lustres and satins are not my favorite finishes, especially in lighter colors such as these. If you didn’t get your hands on Watch Me Simmer, Betty Bright would hold you over until a repromote happens.

Lipglass

Summer Sweetheart Light peach

Stay Sweet Light lavender pink

Kiss & Don’t Tell Bright coral

BIGA Intel says: Lipglasses are more often than not a good value. If you have very pigmented lips, I would go straight for Kiss & Don’t Tell. If you already own Strange Potion from the MAC Disney Villains collection or Tour de Fabulous from Stylepacked, this shade is probably a skip for you.

PearlGlide Eye Liner

Lord It Up Bronze with pearl

Black Swan Black with gold pearl

BIGA Intel says: Pearlglide eyeliners are very long-wearing, go on smooth and sparkly and look amazing. Lord it Up would look best on light to medium skintones while Black Swan will compliment all skintones.

Pigment

Cheers My Dear Light lavender (Frost)

Lucky in Love Shimmering light blue green (Frost)

BIGA Intel says: Frankly I haven’t been too pleased with the quality of MAC pigments of late. If you own any of the mineralize eye shadows close to light lavender or light blue green, best to go with those. Should you choose to go with these pigments, be sure to pick up some Mixing Medium from MACCosmetics.com. You’ll thank me later.

Powder Blush

Cream Soda Light neutral coral (Satin)

BIGA Intel says: This should be a nice color for light to medium skintones. I can’t see this one working on darker skintones very well. From the promo photos it looks a lot like NARS Gilda but performance could be another story.

Pearlmatte Face Powder

BIGA Intel says: This is the first time I’ve seen this type of product. A ‘beauty powder’ with blush ‘built in’. Beauty powders such as these seem to work best as an all-over face color for light to medium skintones, and as a nice highlighter for dark skintones. I will caution that if you have a dark skintone (NW/NC 45+) it’s best to try this in person to see if you like it.

Caramel Sundae Eyeshadow Palette

Caramel Sundae Mid-tone warm tan (Satin)

Cheryl Chic Light coral pink (Frost)

Dreammaker Pale frosty yellow (Frost)

Showstopper Dark, cool-toned brown (Matte) (Repromote)

BIGA Intel says: A nice collection of neutral shades. If you have very oily lids and/or have a dark skin tone, be sure to prep your lids with a paint pot like Painterly or Soft Ochre before applying to eyelids.

Nail Lacquer

Pep Pep Pep Light peach nude

Comic Cute Bright coral

BIGA Intel says: I am not a huge fan of MAC’s nail polishes as I feel the price point is too high and the performance is no where near the level of Illamasqua or NARS. Check these lines for comparable dupes.

Veronica Collection: MAC Archie’s Girls

This is me when I have to yell at tech support who has no clue I’m an engineer…

Lipstick

Daddy’s Little Girl Mid-tone pink violet (Satin)

Ronnie Red Bright red (Matte)

Boyfriend Stealer Deep blackened plum (Cremesheen)

BIGA Intel says: While it’s in the satin finish I loathe, Daddy’s Little Girl seems to have such a high color saturation I still want it. Ronnie Red looks to finally be the bright blue-red I’ve been waiting for MAC to produce in forever (Ruby Woo looks like crap on me as does MAC Red and Russian Red). Boyfriend Stealer should be a hit with brown girls because of the deep, dark color. I will say that if you do not own Yung Rapunxnel (amplified finish), make sure to haul that color first before Boyfriend Stealer.

Lipglass

Mall Madness Mid-tone pink violet

Strawberry Malt Bright red

Feelin’ So Good Deep blackened plum

BIGA Intel says: All of these look super-color-saturated the way true MAC addicts love their liplasses. Strawberry Malt will look amazing on dark skin over Ronnie Red, and Feelin’ So Good looks a lot like Wrong Spell from MAC Venomous Villains.

PearlGlide Eye Liner

Petrol Blue Deep navy with pearl

Designer Purple Violet with pearl

BIGA Intel says: Forget Designer Purple and go straight for Petrol Blue. Why? Not only does Petrol Blue look intensely amazing, it goes on smooth without issue. Designer Purple isn’t as vibrant nor goes on as smooth as Petrol Blue. Unless MAC has changed the formula recently, I don’t see myself getting another Designer Purple. But Petrol Blue? You can never have too many.

Pigment

Black Poodle Blackened pink (Frost)

Magic Spells Blackened teal (Frost)

BIGA Intel says: From swatches I’ve seen, Black Poodle doesn’t look too impressive on and frankly it looks like MAC’s Beauty Marked (Velvet) eyeshadow. If you were lucky enough to get Moonlight Night pigment from MAC’s A Tartan Tale collection, you can skip Magic Spells.

Pearlmatte Face Powder

BIGA Intel says: I passed on Play it Proper beauty powder and as I already own ‘Too Chic’ and MAC’s Salsarose blush (MAC Pro), I’m passing on this.

Spoiled Rich Eyeshadow Palette

Spoiled Rich Rich purple (Frost)

Ron Ron Run Deep navy (Satin)

Pin-Up Purple Mid-tone orchid (Frost)

Gravel Charcoal (Matte)

BIGA Intel says: The compact looks pretty, and the colors look nice, but check your stash first and check it twice. These four colors look a lot like MAC Stars & Rockets, Atlantic Blue, Parfait Amour and some other dark charcoal grey color eyeshadow MAC has out. My first instinct is that these colors are dupeable but the palette is more about convenience than the colors included.

Nail Lacquer

Past Curfew Deep berry

Double Trouble Deep navy

BIGA Intel says: See my notes under Betty. Intel is still the same.

Veronica items from the MAC Archie’s Girls Collection for Spring 2013. So cool, so Veronica…and so *me*.

My being a huge fan of the Archie comics, and of course totally on Team Veronica, I am very excited about this collection! So much so that I found this bonus ‘cheat sheet’ you MUST print out and circle to note what you want. The collection is rumored to launch on MACCosmetics.com on January 30th but you probably want to start stalking the site before then.

Still here? It’s like you’re looking for that ‘bonus scene’ at the end of the movie credits. Well, here ya go!

As I hinted in my makeup intelligence post on NARS Spring 2013, I picked up the blush in Sangria, matte eye shadow in Persia and the lip gloss in Cythere. I was most excited about getting Sangria but in the back of my mind I knew I had to get Persia. And I am so glad that I did!

I’m currently testing these products but I can definitely say all three are worth purchasing, especially the Persia eye shadow. If you are a medium to dark and darker brown girl, you need Persia in your life! And even if you have strong red undertones as I do, blending this color with NARS Mekong (or any other cool toned dark shadow) will make it work. An added bonus about this color (which is insanely pigmented by the way) is that it makes that Maybelline Color Tattoo cream shadow in ‘Fierce and Tangy’ orange worth using again. NARS Persia looks stunning on top of Maybelline’s Fierce and Tangy.

NARS Spring 2013 collection is available now at NARSCosmetics.com and coming to Sephora.com and NARS counters in upscale department stores in February.

The NARS Spring 2013 Collection is all about being fresh and fierce, strong and sexy. The Spring 2013 Color Collection introduces a vibrant, ‘90s-esque palette that sets the tone for a season of audaciously feminine looks. Created by Founder & Creative Director François Nars, the collection heralds spring’s arrival with shades ready to make a graphic statement.

The Eye Shadow single I believe will look amazing on medium to dark skin when smoked with Mekong (my favorite NARS eye shadow single for brown skin). And speaking of amazing on dark skin, the new Seduction blush looks an awful lot like the discontinued Crazed. While I’m a sucker for greens and blues, I have so many that I could successfully dupe the colors in the Mad Mad World duo. Should you decide to get the Bouthan eye shadow duo and you are dark-skinned, be sure to prep your lid with a layer of bright white eyeshadow or use NARS eye shadow primer (use Too Faced’s Shadow Insurance if you have oily eyelids).

NARS Spring 2013 collection is scheduled to launch on January 15, 2013 on NARSCosmetics.com and in February at counters in such upscale retailers as Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus.

For those new to my blog, I have an almost obsessive-compulsion to do a happy dance when NARS releases a new collection. For those who have been reading my blog for quite some time, you’re probably wondering what’s taken me so danged long to post about the NARS Fall 2012 collection. For a quick rundown of all the items, please see my article up on TheStyleAndBeautyDoctor.com (yep, I’m contributing over there as well).

I purchased the items I was most interested in once when were available after me stalking appearing on the site. Rouge Tribal Larger Than Life Lipgloss, High Society eye shadow trip and Outlaw blush were purchased by me and are a most welcome addition to my Fall makeup wardrobe.

I was quite disappointed that for Fall 2012 Francois Nars did not include one of the lovely matte lip pencils I’ve become addicted to. However, the color of this lipgloss is so gorgeous, so flattering to deep skin tones that I couldn’t help but fall in love with Rouge Tribal. With a vampy burgundy tone with metallic shimmer, it shows up very easily on the lips though there will be some settling in lip lines. Personally I can’t wait to wear this lipgloss with Mekong and Night Star eye shadow singles.

NARS Rouge Tribal Larger Than Life Lipgloss for Fall 2012

High Society Eye Shadow Trio

Color me so pleased at this cool-toned trio of shades. NARS’ High Society eye shadow trio consists of three shades: a light frosty lavender, a matte midtone green (a bit lighter than NARS Fuji eye shadow single) and a deep violet purple shimmer shade. I picked up this trio mainly because as I own the Marie Galante eye shadow duo from the NARS Spring 2012 collection, the two should go together quite well.

NARS High Society Eye Shadow Trio for Fall 2012

Outlaw Blush

Color me devastated when I tried to find this color last fall and found out it had been discontinued! Thankfully NARS had pity on blush addicts like me and re-released this gorgeous rose gold shade. It is lighter than Taos with more of a cool undertone. Like with all NARS blushes the translucent pigments made the color easily buildable on dark skin and does not turn ashy.

NARS Outlaw Blush has returned for Fall 2012!

I plan to start testing these items for wear beginning this week and should have a review up within the next few weeks or so. What I can tell you is that while the eye shadow trio is nice, for me the stars of this release are the Rouge Tribal lipgloss and the Outlaw blush. Budget still crunched? NARS blushes are THE thing to have and considering they also make great eye shadow bases, go for it.

The Fall 2012 collection is now available at NARSCosmetics.com and should be appearing on Sephora.com, Nordstrom.com within the next few weeks.

So who knew about this Macy’s exclusive Estee Lauder Brasil Dreams collection in advance because I sure didn’t!

Estee Lauder’s Brasil Dream collection–exclusive at Macy’s!

I’ve recently gotten into taking Samba classes so when I saw this display in my local Macy’s my eyes were immediately drawn to the bright colors. However, the real stars of this collection are the insanely pigmented blushes! Check ’em out!

The real stars of the Brasil collection–the blushes! Women of Color, haul these immediately!

I can tell you that after swatching these in store they are all very, very pigmented and you need very little to get it to show up on you if you have dark skin. Whether swatched with my finger or with a brush I was pleasantly surprised at the color payoff and how easy it was to build intensity. Out of all three of these, Fearless is my favorite with The Siren close behind. None of them contain any shimmer so for those of you who are glitterphobes I think you will enjoy these. I ordered mine from Macys.com and they are scheduled to arrive early next week. I will do swatches as soon as I can and a review a few weeks later.

The blushes retail for $28, are limited edition and are available at Macy’s counters and at Macys.com.

When the smoke cleared between what I’d reserved and what I bought as a result of my makeover, I would up with two of the eye shadow quads (Colour Added and Call Me Bubbles), two lipsticks (Quick Sizzle and Watch Me Simmer), two blushes (Florida and Optomistic Orange), and two tendertones (Purring and Hot and Saucy). I’m working on comparison swatches to post along with reviews this weekend but in the meantime enjoy the swag pics and a pic of me wearing the Call Me Bubbles trio and the pretty much sold out Watch Me Simmer lipstick.

Da swag in packaging that reminds me of those cardboard Barbie supermarket play set...